Rebecca Edwards Email & Phone Number

Fernie, BC, CA

British Columbia, Canada

After six years in weekly newspapers I decided to use my editing and reporting experience to start a freelance journalism and marketing business.I specialized in articles on the Kootenays and British Columbia. Published in British Columbia Magazine, Dogs in Canada, Business in Vancouver, Calgary Herald, Kootenay Mountain Culture, Baker's Journal.

• Responsible for all aspects of the production process, led a two-person editorial team while liaising with staff in other departments. Circulation increased during my tenure.
• Named best small newspaper in BC and the Yukon at 2010 BC and Yukon Community Newspaper Association awards.
• Daily editorial decisions on how to cover events and issues and whether each article was suitable for publication
• I wrote 8-10 articles per week, took photos, and designed pages using Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.
• I was the public face of the newspaper, attending community events and developing strong connections with community groups, businesses and the public.
• Accountable to the readership - I always made an effort to answer comments or complaints and explain my decision-making process, earning me a good reputation with readers.The Free Press was among a number of newspapers.

• I was involved in every step of the weekly production process.
• Generating new story ideas and new ways to deal with ongoing issues
• Writing 8-10 articles a week from the front page to community features, photo spreads and sports reports
• Fact-checking, editing and proof-reading
• Taking photos and preparing them for print using Photoshop
• Laying out the pages using Indesign

After three years as a reporter, the newspaper created a new Assistant News Editor role for me, in order to give me increased responsibilities.I directly managed two reporters, producing an edition of the newspaper that focused on two towns and had a weekly circulation of 4,000.I also continued with my reporting work, and came third in the Digital.

I was a member of a seven-strong news reporting team for the weekly newspaper, covering all aspects of the news beat, from community events, to court coverage, local government meetings and local issues and trends.I specialized in finding the human interest angle to create stories that made an impact on the readership and compelled them to take action.

Postgraduate Diploma, National Council For Training Of Journalists - Newspaper Journalism

Ba, English And French